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Dos Pallilos
Asian Snack bar in the Raval
Tagged as an Asian snack bar this place will sure make an impression on the culinary scene in Barcelona. Just opened on May 1, 2008 it is located next to the Camper hotel in Raval. Apart from the fact that the entire staff wears camper shoes, there is no direct connection between the 2 says Albert Rauric (former head chef at El Bulli).
The entrance to the bar (designed by the same people that did the hotel) is a homage to local bars made with prefab industrial elements turned into style icons. The real ´bar´ restaurant in the back is like a dim lit sushi bar where you´ll witness the chefs Raurich, Takeshi and the rest of the staff preparing your food. The tasting menu for dinner is about 60 euros without drinks and you´ll get about 10 dishes. All heavily inspired by Japanese and Asian cuisine. If you´re with more than 2 persons try to get one of the corners of the bar so you can have a conversation whilst enjoying the extravagant delicacies. Good wine list.
C/Elisabets 9 (Raval)
Barcelona
Tel: +34 93 3040513
www.dospalillos.com
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LOOP Festival
Digital Barcelona and beyond
The 6th International Videoart Festival, LOOP ‘08 will take place on May 8th, 9th 10th at various locations in the city and is known as an international crossroads for video art professionals. Over 40 galleries will participate in this year’s LOOP Fair, which will showcase the latest work of emerging and acclaimed artists, transforming Barcelona into a platform for promoting video art and transmitting it to an ever-more global audience.
The festival’s aim is to promotes connections and encourage relationships between local and foreign artists and representatives. LOOP also provides a lens to Barcelona’s ever-increasing cultural diversity.
This year, one of the highlights will be LOOP DIVERSE, and experimental program that explores the possibilities of video art as an element of intercultural dialogue that encourages integration. Communities of foreigners who live and work in Barcelona will open the doors to the stores, restaurants, cultural associations and the places they go to relax to show video art works produced by artists in their home countries. Italian, French, Chinese, Swiss, Pakistani, Maghribian, Filipino, Ecuadorean, Dominican and Columbian communities will participate in this year’s LOOP.
LOOP ‘08.
+34 932 155 260
www.loop-barcelona.com
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El Xampanyet
Rustic Deluxe
Locals swear by this cornerstone of Catalan charm, where a whole host of young and not-so.young go to gaggle, graze and gulp. Cava flows like water, at this unpretentious, rustic little Champagne bar in the heart of the Borne. Tucked away near the Picasso Museum, El Xampanyet is a collision of old world charm and new world flava.
Blue-tiled walls and antique artifacts blend with marble tables and a zinc bar where you can soak up the excesses of the Spanish Elixir with fresh anchovies, cockles, mussels and Serrano ham on bread. Get there early if you want to snag a table, or, if all else fails, prop yourself up on the bar for as long as you can stay steady.
A bottle of the house will set you back around 7 euros, and there is a good beer selection for those who wish to opt out on the bubbly specialty.
A word of warning: Be under no illusions… if chic, spotless and minimal floats your boat then you’ll find El Xampanyet about as appealing as toothache. If however, like me, you wish to wade into layers of Catalan history, and don’t mind the inevitable squash that has become a trademark of this charming bar’s popularity, then get down here for a swashbuckling benvinguts with bells on.
C/Montcada 22
Barcelona
Tel: +34) 93 319 7003
Opening Hours:
Monday to Saturday 12am-4pm and 6.30pm-11.30pm
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Primavera Sound ’08
Sounds like spring is here!
If you’ve been to Barcelona in the springtime and haven’t heard of Primavera Sound, then you must have been trapped in an elevator for the duration of your stay. This three-day audible extravaganza will once again whip the Catalan capital into a frenzy from May 29th-31st.
Bigger, brighter and bassier than ever, if music en mass is your thang, then you’ll be right at home at this festival. From Dinosaur Junior to Rufus Wainwright, Cat Power to 808 State, Primavera Sound 2008 literally showers the spectator in ear candy… Not for the faint-hearted.
Tickets can be purchased online via Paypal, or from the following outlets: Tick Tack Ticket, CD Drome Barcelona (Valldonzella 3), CD Drome Madrid (Pozas 6), FNAC France or www.atrapalo.com
A three-day ticket costs 140 €, a one-day pass is 60 € until May 1st. One-day tickets are not available through PayPal and all tickets are subject to a booking fee.
Primavera Sound ‘08
Parc del Fňrum
Rambla Prim 2-4
Barcelona
www.primaverasound.com
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Lil i Pep
Food for body, food for thought....
Recently renovated and just reopened, Lil i Pep, in the heart of the Borne, has changed owners, décor and reincarnated as my new favourite café-bar-restaurant-bookshop. The new owners have turned what was once an avant-garde café in a great location with a good selection of contemporary books into an essential, eclectic oasis.
Tucked in a corner on Pou de la Cadena, a mere few strides from the Picasso Museum, this bright, clean, and quirky bistro-bookshop offers an innovative and hearty selection of innovative salads, sumptuous main dishes, and morsels to nibble (“picar” and “repicar” depending on personal capacity…) When it comes to issues of space, I tend to steal myself away from their loving portions of Chicken salad with sweet onions, or pasta with blue cheese and pear (which takes more than a modicum of willpower) and just order two of their outrageously calorific and mind-boggling desserts which are displayed revolving like dancing goddesses in the window. The lemon meringue pie and the chocolate cake make you feel glad to be alive…
The coffee and tea selection at Lil I Pep isn’t to be sniffed at either, and I highly recommend parking up of an afternoon and lingering over a book in their cosy library corner with a café con leche (which comes with a chocolate or cookie, something of a dying tradition these days.)
What delights me most about this eccentric and immaculate little oasis is the attention to detail: friendly staff, generous portions and eclectic décor, exhibitions and projections at simple, uninflated prices make Lil I Pep well worth a second, third or forth helping.
Lil I Pep
Pou de a Cadena 8,
08003 Barcelona
Tel: 933106697
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